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Friday, June 17, 2016

Power in Turkey: Islamist power struggle returns to the pitch

The opening of a court case against Turkish soccer star
Hakan Sukur on charges of insulting the president takes Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s autocratic
ambitions back to their origins: an Islamist power struggle with exiled
preacher Fethullalh Gulen that erupted five years ago on the pitch.

A soccer player-turned-politician who in 2011 was elected to
parliament as a representative of Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP),
Mr. Sukur stands accused of asserting in February 2015 that the president was
guilty of theft.

Mr. Sukur, who sided with Mr. Gulen in his dispute with Mr.
Erdogan, was referring to charges in 2013 of corruption against Cabinet ministers,
the director of a state bank and members of the president’s family by pro-Gulen
prosecutors that were at least partly related to Iran sanctions busting. The
charges rocked Turkey at the time.

Mr. Sukur may well be sentenced as many others have in a
Turkey that is being subjected to Mr. Erdogan’s will through the curtailing of
individual freedoms and the politics of fear – a private university fired a
communications professor this week for mocking the president in class – but can
seek comfort in the fact that legal proceedings in the United States could
reopen the corruption charges.

Mr. Erdogan responded to the corruption charges by accusing
Mr. Gulen, who heads one of the world’s largest and wealthiest Islamist
movements, of attempting to stage a coup and build a parallel state in Turkey.
The president effectively squashed the investigation of the corruption charges
by dismissing or transferring thousands of members of the judiciary and police,
both institutions that were viewed as bulwarks of support for the preacher.
Some alleged pro-Gulen members of the judiciary and police were accused of
conspiracy and terrorism.

The corruption charges constituted a sequence in the power
struggle that first erupted in 2011 with a massive match fixing scandal, the
worst in Turkish soccer history, in which the two Islamist leaders battled for
control of storied Istanbul club, Fenerbahce SK, the political crown jewel in
Turkish soccer.

At the centre of the scandal was Fenerbahce president Aziz
Yildirim, one of 93 soccer officials and players accused of match fixing.
Political control of Fenerbahce potentially paves the way for support of
millions of the club’s fans. Mr. Erdogan, who at the time was still prime
minister. ensured legislation that shielded the club from relegation and
reduced penalties for match fixing. Mr. Yildirim was initially sentenced to six
years in prison but acquitted last year in a retrial.

Turkish authorities detained 38 people, including former
police chiefs, lawyers and journalists, in April in a series of police raids on
suspicion of framing Mr. Yildirim as well as other Fenerbahce players and directors
as part of a continued crackdown on alleged followers of Mr. Gulen.

Police issued at the time warrants for the arrest of 64
people suspected of involvement in the alleged plot against Fenerbahce.
State-run Anadolu News Agency reported that the suspects could be charged with forming
and belonging to a terror organization and conducting illegal wiretaps.

While Mr. Erdogan may have believed that he had put the
corruption scandal to bed, he risks the case being reopened with the arrest in
Miami earlier this year of Turkish businessman and gold trader Reza Zarrab on
charges of having helped Iran circumvent US and international sanctions against
Iran.

The US investigation has laid bare details of Mr. Zarrab’s
links to senior Turkish officials, including some of those that originally had
figured in the 2013 corruption scandal. US prosecutors allege that Mr. Zarrab
paid tens of millions of dollars in bribes to the three ministers and the
director of Halkbank, the state bank, that had been named in the scandal. The
prosecutors further assert that Mr. Zarrab made a $5.5 million donation to a
charity established by Mr. Erdogan’s wife.

Turkish prosecutors dropped similar charges against Mr. Zarrab
as part of the squashing of Turkish proceedings. Mr. Zarrab was subsequently
honoured with an award for being one of Turkey’s top exporters. US prosecutors
said their evidence supported the original Turkish charges against Mr. Zarrab.

The threat to Mr. Erdogan is that Mr. Zarrab may want to
cooperate with US prosecutors in an effort to reduce the chance of him spending
up to 75 years in prison if he were to be convicted in a US court. That in turn
could lead to legal proceeding against associates of Mr. Erdogan in US courts
as well as sanctions against Turkish banks complicit in Iranian sanction
busting. Halkbank shares on the Istanbul stock exchange have already taken a
hit in anticipation of a possible plea bargain by Mr. Zarrab.

Mr. Sukur, following in the footsteps of Mr. Gulen, has
moved to the United States. Concerned that he may not get a fair hearing by a
judiciary that has been politicized and legislation that is designed to grant
Mr. Erdogan immunity from criticism, Mr. Sukur has said he would be willing to
testify via videoconference. Mr. Sukur, Turkey’s most prolific striker and the
player who scored the world’s fastest goal, could be sentenced to up to four
years in prison.

Mr. Erdogan initially dismissed Mr. Zarrab’s arrest as being
irrelevant to Turkish interests. That could prove to be a premature assessment.
The potential fallout of Mr. Zarrab’s case would cast the defamation charges
against Mr. Sukur in a very different light. Combined the two cases could
create a situation in which Mr. Erdogan’s squashing of attempts at transparency
and accountability backfire and come to haunt his grip on power.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile